There is a lovely passage in Mr Charles H Baker’s Prohibition-era travelogue, The Gentleman’s Companion (1939), in which the author describes a delightful stay at a friend’s bungalow on Juhu Beach in Mumbai. The “tray of liqueurs” that emerged after dinner seems to have brought Mr Baker particular delight: “Drambuie – our favourite of all – Chartreuse, green and yellow; Cordial Medoc, which is made from peach pits; brandy fine, Benedictine, Curaçao, Kirschwasser and Cointreau; and kümmel in a bottle like a bear.”

So, what is kummel? And should we be drinking it right now?

To which the answers are, respectably: it’s an antique north European caraway-flavoured liqueur popular among Russian tsars, Austrian hussars, and avant-garde cocktail hipsters; and yes, you should be drinking it, preferably ice-cold. “Kummel isn’t quite a bartender's handshake like Fernet-Branca, but if someone comes in and throws an order for a Silver Bullet or a quick shot of Mentzendorff, I’m definitely curious to know more about them,” says Mr Felix Cohen, bartender at Every Cloud in London's Hackney. “It’s definitely something for people in the know."

Mr Baker defined kummel as a “a white, pungent liqueur made from cumin and caraway seeds, with the latter taste dominant.” He praised its medicinal qualities in particular: “… kümmel is a great stomachic, relieves pains, collywobbles, aids digestion, and is specified in enough cocktails that it should be on the shelf of every average bar.” Chief among these cocktails are the silver bullet (a sour made with gin, kummel and lemon juice) and the Loensky, first detailed in The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book (two parts kummel to one part Scotch). Mr Baker counsels its use in a Russian cocktail (mixed with cognac, frappé style) as well as a Russian twist on the classic champagne cocktail, too.

It is thought that kummel was first distilled by the great Amsterdam merchant Mr Lucas Bols in the 17th century, when the Dutch East India Company (of which Mr Bols was a shareholder) was introducing European palates to new spices from Asia. Quite possibly his version was stronger on the cumin – the words for cumin and caraway in Germanic languages are similar – but caraway came to be the overwhelming note as kummel moved east. By the 19th century, kummel was more closely associated with the Mentzendorff and Wolfschmidt companies in Riga, Latvia. The Russian royal family apparently couldn’t get enough of the stuff. But after the Soviets came to power, kummel production shifted to Germany, while Mentzendorff is these days concocted in Saumur, France, by the Combier distillery in disappointingly non-bear-shaped bottles.

Until recently, the only place outside Eastern Europe you could reliably source kummel was Scottish golf clubs – it’s a long-standing golfing tradition to get wankered on Wolfschmidt after a few holes. It retains its fans among the English aristocracy, too. But Americans haven’t been so blessed. Mr Frank Caiafa, director of Handle Bars in New York and author of the updated Waldorf Astoria Bar Book, tells me that when he started at his old bar, Peacock Alley in 2005, he had to “hack” his own version from aquavit and sugar.

Kummel’s faded grandeur combined with its super-strong love-it-or-hate it flavour profile make it a favourite among directional bartenders. When mixing, as a general rule, I’d advise going all out and smashing it against other similarly strong ingredients. It clashes moodily with the smoke in a good Scotch. It lends a solemn dignity to champagne. It’s surprisingly good whacked against pimento dram, orange juice and dark rum in a Kingston cocktail. And next time you enter a swanky bar, I dare you to ask for a negroni with Koko Kanu coconut rum in place of the gin, Mentzendorff kummel in place of the vermouth and Fernet-Branca in place of the Campari. You will either be thrown out – or handed the keys to the establishment.

Invented by Mr Felix Cohen of Every Cloud in Hackney, London. Menthe Pastille is a super-fresh style of white crème de menthe made by Giffards, with strong spearmint notes – though this works well enough with regular crème de menthe, too.

• 50ml bourbon
• 10ml kummel
• 10ml menthe pastille
• Dash Angostura bitters

Stir over plenty of ice in an old fashioned glass and garnish with a twist of orange zest.

The classic kummel cocktail benefits from a little egg white in my opinion.

• 50ml gin
• 25ml kummel
• 25ml lemon juice
• 15ml egg white
• Celery bitters (optional)

1. Perform a reverse double shake. Shake everything hard over plenty of ice to chill it.
2. Fine-strain into a spare vessel, discard the ice and shake again to froth up the egg white.
3. Pour into an ice-cold cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon twist.

According to Mr Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s invaluable Total Tiki app, this recipe originated at the Luau restaurant in Beverly Hills, California, circa 1953 and was described as “our Polynesian answer to the dry Martini”. What kummel would have been doing in Polynesia I don’t know, but it weirdly works. The coconut water is my addition.

• 50ml white rum (I like Flor de Cana 4 Year Old Extra Dry)
• 10ml kummel
• 25ml coconut water (optional)

1. Stir everything over plenty of ice and strain into an ice-cold cocktail glass.
2. Garnish with a piece of fresh coconut, and/or a lemon zest twist.
3. A dash of Koko Kanu coconut rum is excellent in this, too, but no more than a dash.